In “Places: The Journey of My Days, My Lives,” Penghlis, who pursued a career as an actor to fund his unyielding desire for spiritual and exotic travel, weaves his deep Greek and Australian heritage with Hollywood escapades and captivating journeys to places few visit.

Listen to “Breakthrough Entertainment” and Phoenix Movie Examiner's full interview with Penghlis by clicking on the image above this article. The following is an excerpt from the interview in which the actor discusses what is probably his most popular role as Tony DiMera on NBC's “Days of Our Lives.”

“I'm not one to jump from one show to another. I liked playing Tony all those years – and Andre. I thought it was a great challenge playing two characters but now I am doing 'General Hospital' and that is what I'm focused on. But I have to give my thanks to all of those years working with NBC. It was a great experience. And it was also what allowed me to write ['Places: The Journey of My Days, My Lives'] because I was able to pay for all of these journeys.

“When I presented it to the publisher, she loved it very much but she said, 'You don't have a chapter on 'Days of Our Lives.'' I didn't want to write a chapter because I didn't think that was a journey. But it was a journey. It was a journey within a studio creating a life. And it was painful. When you die six times on a show it's not a happy moment. And each time was more violent than the last. I kept asking my producer, 'Why can't I just disappear up in the stairwell or something and not come back for a while?' And he said, 'No, you'll be back.' And I said, 'No, I won't.' And that was it. And I never went back.

“I'm always playing diabolical characters, which I like because there is much more of a playground than playing the hero because unless you have a great villain you don't have a very good hero. I think it's my tone. I can be very sharp. I know how to communicate dialogue pretty well these days. And I'm a pretty straight-shooter. You get away with murder. In real life, you don't. You are arrested and put in prison. Whereas when you are playing it, you take your clothes off afterward, you go home and you are the person you are.”-Thaao Penghlis

Share this article

Joseph J. Airdo is a film critic, producer and on-air personality for "Breakthrough Entertainment," a talk radio show airing 9 a.m.-Noon Saturdays on KPHX 1480 AM that shines a spotlight on the practical perspectives of the topics and themes explored in movies. His outlets also include The Entertainer in print and Examiner.com on the web. E-mail him at joseph.airdo@gmail.com.